• provides oversight for regional program development, execution and management;
• appoints and removes individuals to the Industry Advisory Council and Technical Committee;
• approves the proposed duties and membership of the Industry Advisory Council and Technical Committee;
• approves the proposed strategy for project selection;
• approves the Annual Plan of Work, including budget allocations;
• approves the Annual Accomplishment Report for consistency with the goals and objectives of CTSA and the authorizing legislation; and
• directs the Executive Director to respond to its information needs.

Anthony Ostrowski, Ph.D., of The Oceanic Institute and Jo-Ann Leong, Ph.D., of the University of Hawaii are the two Executive Committee members.

The Executive Committee is responsible for making the final decisions on administrative policy, budget and procedures of CTSA. It also appoints the Executive Director of CTSA.

Jo-Ann Leong is the University of Hawaii's appointed representative on the Board of Directors for the Center for Tropical and Subtropical Aquaculture. Dr. Leong assumed her position as Director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology in October 2001 when she returned to Hawaii.

Leong grew up in Kapahulu near the old Love's Bakery plant and she remembers many happy weekends at Kaneohe Bay and Barber's Point where she camped out with her family. She graduated from Roosevelt High School and the former Rough Rider went to the University of Hawaii for two years before transferring to the University of California at Berkeley for her B.A. degree. She completed her doctoral thesis work at the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco where she worked with J. Michael Bishop and Warren Levinson on retroviruses and reverse transcriptase.

Andrew Hashimoto joined the CTSA Board of Directors in 2000 after he was appointed Dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR).

Dr. Hashimoto was born in Hawaii and graduated from Punahou School in 1962. After graduation from high school, his entire academic and professional careers have been spent in the continental United States. He obtained a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's degree in environmental engineering from Purdue University. He continued his education and obtained a doctorate in agricultural engineering from Cornell University.

He held professional positions at Cornell and the University of Nebraska while he worked for the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. He was also a research leader at the USDA's Agricultural Engineering Research Unit in Nebraska. In 1986, he moved to Oregon State University to become professor and head of the Bioresource Engineering Department. He was promoted to Vice Provost for academic affairs at OSU in 1995.

Singeru Singeo joined the CTSA Board of Directors in 1996. Singeru wears several hats at the College of Micronesia (COM). He is COM's Executive Director and also Interim Director for Land-Grant Research, as well as the Extension Program.

Singeo while also majoring in Business Education earned a bachelor's degree in Biology at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California. He went on to earn a doctorate in dentistry from Loma Linda University in California. Singeo has a diverse background. He is licensed to practice dentistry in California and in Micronesia where he worked as staff dentist for Pohnpei Health Service for several years. Director and Instructor of Technical Training at the College of Micronesia Dental Nursing School in Palau. He also was an adjunct instructor at Loma Linda University School of Dentistry for its program in Micronesia.

Singeo has held several administration positions at the College of Micronesia. He has served as Development Officer, Personnel Officer, and Chancellor of the College of Micronesia System.

Harry Ako joined the CTSA Board of Directors in 2009. Ako is chairman in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering at the University of Hawaii's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. In the past few years he has devoted his time to nurturing and advancing the department's award winning research programs in the areas of molecular biosciences and bioengineering, despite the limitations in available resources and its outreach activities (via winning business competitions), as well as its strong, dynamic and growing instructional programs, both undergraduate and graduate. Ako considers the morale within the department important as well.

His earlier scholarly work led to the formulation of marine shrimp and marine finfish feeds that were not only well considered, but also held dominant commercial positions as well. There was a focus on the nutritional as well as palatability aspects of feeds. Live feeds developed for baby marine fish focused on their fatty acids and led to greater stress resistance for these animals. The omega-3 fatty acid DHA (22:6n-3) was found to be critically important. Ako conducted research on freshwater ornamental fish and ornamental fish coloration with carotenoids.

Other aspects of his research team's work with fatty acids led to the development of the Hawaiian oils industry. Kukui nut oil products have made it into the cosmetics industry and macadamia nut oils have a presence in the cosmetics as well as the food oil industries.

Todd Low joined the CTSA Board of Directors in 2009. He is the Manager of the Hawaii State Aquaculture Development Program (ADP), which is charged with implementing the state plan through planning and policy development, providing support services, and funding research, development and demonstration projects. He recently served as the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA), Market Development Branch Manager and managed several programs focusing on marketing Hawaii’s agriculture products to local, domestic and international markets. The programs included the Seals of Quality program, which helps companies market their premium products; the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign, which encourages Hawaii consumers to purchase local food products; and the Matching Marketing Funds Program, which supports the marketing efforts of local farmers by providing matching funds for distribution, tradeshow and education projects. His knowledge of agricultural distribution systems is seen as a key component in increasing the market for aquaculture products.

Low has an MBA, and prior to being employed by the State, he was the Product Development Manager for American Savings Bank (ASB), where he constructed financial modeling for new products in addition to overseeing training modules prior to the roll-out of those products. Previous to ASB, Low was the Interactive Marketing Manager for the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, where he was responsible for marketing programs to Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, and where he developed the state’s official tourism web site, http://www.gohawaii.com.